On Friday I showed the Lost Treasures of Afghansitan, a 2004 National Geographic documentary. One of the people featuired in that film was Fredrik Heibert, a National Geographic archeologist.
Although he is not prominent in the film it was Fredrik who did the cataloguing for the Bactrian Hoard find of around 21,000 gold pieces, he also stayed on and helped catalogue other collections for the Museums as well.
Later he was instrumental in bringing the Bactrian Treasure trove for exhibition in the US. This is a recording of an introduction to the find that he gave at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco.
In it he discusses how the Bactrian Hoard was discovered just before the Soviet-Afghan war started, how it was subsequently lost, and how, amid the chaos it was hidden away, until it was rediscovered in 2002.
Fredrik also explains where the Hoard came from and its significance in understanding Afghan and Silk Road history.
In the playlist there is a short introduction to the exhibition, then the talk itself, which is around thirty minutes long, followed by questions and answers.
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